Evil doesn't exist because everything is evil. Cosmic space is dark. We are born evil. Evil is the starting point, natural. Then, sometimes, there is a speck of light. But it is only temporary, because we have to go back to the darkness. And that's what happens in the dream.
-- Paul Stavnes aka Valentin Gjersten (Chapter 3)

Importance: Psychologist Ståle Aune's patient recites his recurring dream and his hopelessness. Using the pseudonym Paul Stavnes, Valentin Gjertsen is either describing what he really dreams or he is playing a game with the psychologist. Valentin will later tell Aune that the first time he was caught trying to rape someone, Aune wrote an evaluation of him that found him legally sane. Valentin has never forgotten; Valentin's assumption appears to be that if he had gotten the correct treatment early, his life might have been different. Aune does not even remember him, if what Valentin says is, in fact, true...